Raul goes DEEP on organisational structure and strategy (Long Read)

by .

‘Is he better than Mustafi?’

Arsenal dropped the second part of the double CEO Interview and THANK the bloody LORD Dennis Bergkamp, it was FAR more interesting.

The baton was passed over to Raul and the Spaniard started to talk about some of the details we’ve been lacking as fans. It was probably the most interesting interview I’ve ever seen come from Arsenal.com.

The new structure sits on an axis that Raul describes as the skeleton.

At the top, sits the first team coach… emphasis on the word ‘coach.’

At the bottom, sits the Academy Head, which is Per Mertesacker. This part of the business is important for obvious reasons, but I still liked hearing Raul talk about its role… namely, it creates an identity within the club, and also reduces the cost of transfers. He noted that Ajax, Bayern and Barca have all had legendary youth ranks.

Then he talked about the technical director role and if you’ve been following Le Grove for any length of time, I think you’ll be pleased we were in the right ballpark. They’ll be setting the tone and vision for the club. If you work in or around advertising, it’s basically a brand manager. A person that’s in charge of ensuring we do things the Arsenal way on the pitch from a technical perspective.

Then to the left, you have the Head of Football Operations. The person who is in charge of making sure every detail works from a budget perspective. They work on the player deals, they ensure contracts are buttoned up, they make sure the guy booking bus tickets isn’t holding the team haka.

The meat around the skeleton is the important thing that we’ve again been talking about at length. Burgess and Shad are growing in importance as we push hard to build out our High-Performance engine. Making sure players are fit, on the right programmes and that our injuries are low. We have a growing Data and Analytics team. That’s working out how we measure players, how we analyse a multitude of data points and how we find people that can extract meaningful insights out the back end. Remember, tools show you the data, elite humans make sense of it. They also had the ladies team in there, which seems to be a core growth point for the Arsenal as we’re so damn successful there (GO LADIES GO!).

They also spoke about player identification as an iterative process, which is great to hear. We’ve chatted about how big clubs build a profile of what they need over the course of a season so they’re not caught in a window shopping frenzy like Wenger used to be. Vinai pointed out they were talking about summer deals in October, which is assuring to hear.

It’s also clear that Emery and Raul are in the driving seat this summer. So we’ll have to see how that plays out. Regardless of how good that plan is, he was adamant there was a plan.

Another thing I really, really loved… Raul and Vinai doubled down on Arsenal being a great place to be for players (and managers by proxy). He’s absolutely correct. All the misery guts that make out we’re some sort of pariah club have always been wrong, but it was good to hear it from the top. History, facilities, fanbase, exposure, stadium… as Raul said, we have a lot of ammunition.

The Aaron Ramsey chat was a bit of a pigs ear. They spoke about wage rationalisation as the leading reason. You can buy into that as ‘we couldn’t afford him’, or you can look at how it went down which is, ‘we decided he wasn’t worth it.’

We didn’t think he was worth it. We offered him a big deal, which from what I heard was lower than what he eventually took at Juve (I also heard the Juve money being bandied around is not a clear cut as it seems), but it was big, then the manager and Raul decided to yank the deal in late September, likely because he wasn’t living up to the PowerPoint hype Emery had envisaged.

You know this is the deal because we took the worst of all PR routes.

Firstly, if we’d wanted to keep Aaron, we’d not have dropped him in September when we pulled the deal. There’s literally no reason to bench a play in September if they’re good. Players need to play, they want to play, and it is extremely rare to make a statement out of a person that early in a season. Also, we didn’t do it with Ozil or Sanchez.

Secondly, if the problem is greed, that’s a PR nugget to run with. You leave it to the player to reject a huge deal and send Aaron to Italy looking like a mercenary. If the problem is the player waiting out their deal, you leave the contract with them and let the player infuriate the fans.

We did neither, we yanked the deal and made a big fuss of it being our decision. Which would have been fine had we not needed to go crawling back in January. The club underestimated how good he was, I think it’s that simple. Wenger did the same with BIG John Hartson, gone too soon man, gone too soon.

If wage rationalisation were an issue, we’d not have Mikhi on £170k a week, we’d do something aggressive about Ozil, we’d not have Lacazette and Auba getting £250k a week (the number Ramsey was being pitched), and we’d not be doubling the money of Matteo.

So here would be my key takeaway. I fucking LOVE an operational lecture, I really do. It’s fascinating to hear how the club is organising bodies around a vision of the future. These sorts of things should always be iterative and they should always change… but organisational charts alone won’t move the club forward.

We need to have the very best talent in the system and we need to have someone leading in a very strong way to make sure it all ticks along properly. One bad apple can infect the rest of the business like a cancer. Who is there making sure there is no cancer in the system?

We have a sports psychologist in the mix that’s overseen epic tanks for years now, if you’re talking elite performance, how is that guy justifying his salary?

If you’re talking about performance over the course of a season, and you’re looking at data, what does success for the manager look like? Sarri put it perfectly when he said that Chelsea should sack him now if his season is dependent on one trophy. What are we judging Emery by? Just top level, if metrics get worse as a season goes on, and you invested in areas to make them better but didn’t manage it, how do you justify those things? It’s just a question, don’t burst a blood vessel answering.

I love Big Per Mertesacker and he talks incredibly well about the game, but growing talent across such a wide range of age groups is REALLY tough. If he gets it wrong, he could consign a generation of players to the bin. Was it sensible to give someone the keys to the academy like that? Time will tell, but it was a huge gamble to go that route for the lifeblood and identity of the club moving forward.

How did all of this process land us on the decision to sign Denis Suarez in January? It’s a serious question. Of all the problems our squad clearly had, how did months of talking about weaknesses in the squad land us on a player that lacked character, physicality and purpose for our setup?

Anyone can map problems out.

Anyone can build a paper organisation.

Anyone can design a model for the future.

The difficult part is driving through that change and holding people accountable for moving things forward. It’s uncomfortable, it’s hard and it takes a huge expenditure of energy.

Who has the energy to make it happen? What are Vinai and Raul accountable for? What is the timeframe for success?

Part one was such a letdown because we didn’t offer up clarity on the vision. If your vision is murky, the execution will be the same.

We have a lot of theory, but very little to judge it by. Making the fans proud is meek.

I also wanted to hear something a bit more detailed about the football.

That could be us waiting for a technical director, or that could be the self-preservation kicking in. If you’re not told to be ambitious, why would you put your neck on the line?

You wouldn’t. Textbook Ivan Gazidis. Talk around the notion of accountability, whinge on that it’s really hard to compete, and people will likely not notice. Remember all the morons that jumped on Arsene Wenger’s comments about buying loaves of bread? Dortmund have done a massive chunk of excellent transfer business and we’re not out of May. They have a clear vision and they execute against it like clockwork. I’m not sure what ours is after an hour-long interview with the top two guys.

Part 2 was very solid, but if I were being very critical, I’d say… What’s really new here? What are doing that no other club is doing? Does this not feel a little like table stakes? Are we celebrating moving forward, or are we still blasting party poppers about catching up on the basics?

Right, that was a good chat… well played Raul and Vinai, but still some way to go if we’re truly planning to make moves over the next 5 years.

See you in the comments!

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Guns of SF

Ill expect lots of ticky tack fouls being called and also a penalty in this game

salpardisenyc

WOB

It’ll be inside the actors studio out there, i’m expecting Stella the lines girl to put him on the spot in the first 30.

Dissenter

Leeds
Why do you want to sell Nwakali? He’s not the only player out on loan.
I mean how much are you looking for?

The club is 100% invested in the final next week and for good reason.
Those players you listed can be moved on in one day. It’s not like the transfer window has officially opened.

MidwestGun

lol I was being Facetious … Eagle.. not very well though. need to work on that.

WengerEagle

Haha I know you were Mid, just couldn’t resist the Dad-joke opportunity.

Leedsgunner

Raul was extremely articulate in why they allowed Ramsey… they would have helped the Club’s cause with the fans if they released these reasons about 6 months ago.

Redtruth

Anyone who thinks Man City’s zuccess is down to Guardiola needs a lobotomy.
The club have been on the up ever since Sheikh Mansour took control.

Leedsgunner

*they allowed Ramsey to go…

Dan Ahern

Xhaka is a great passer but he’s so slow and mistake-prone I don’t see the point in keeping him. At 26 he should be at prime value for a sale. Bet we could get Ivan to fork over £40m.

Leedsgunner

Dissenter

I might be wrong but I think the transfer market is open, has been since the 16 May… to make up for the fact that that the transfer window will now close before the start of the EPL season… not the 30 August as before.

Guns of SF

Ozil and Xhaka to AC or Inter-
would suit both parties

We need to upgrade our midfield in a BIG way
More goals. better passing, pressing and help on Defense!

WengerEagle

Who has been Citeh’s most crucial signing is the q?

Obvious candidates are Aguero, David Silva, Yaya Toure, Kompany.

I think Aguero shades Silva as he’s been their premier goalscorer/CF in all of their 4 PL title wins. His role hasn’t at all diminished in the 8 years since he has joined the club and he’s still performing at the same level, by far the most consistent.

Yaya takes the most influential in his prime prize, for 4-5 years from 2010/2011-2015 he was a force of nature and the heartbeat of that side.

Champagne Charlie

Weagle

Kompany up their among captains to win the most PL titles, one behind JT in all-time. Think he’ll arguably be remembered most fondly by the Citeh faithful. All 17 of them.

Redtruth

Emery won PSG the Treble just as Guardiola has with Man City. Lol

Valentin

I don’t understand that love for Ryan Frazer. His stats are misleading as he takes free-kick and corners, so he create more chance than somebody who does not. Also in open play, most of his assists are crosses headed in by Bournemouth strikers. As both Lacazette ans Aubameyang are terrible headers of the ball, I can’t see him crossing to our smallish strikers having a huge impact on goal scored. We played that tactic against Brighton and both their CBs had a field day. We need a winger who can beat his man via dribbling skills and then either shoot,… Read more »

salpardisenyc

“All 17 of them.”

Haha touche.

Redtruth

Man City are the first club to win the domestic treble, mind you we never had Billionaires owning clubs back then.

Dissenter

My bad, the transfer window opened on the 17th.

WengerEagle

CC

Did JT win more PL titles than Captain Keano? Surprised by that.

Haha yeah and the good thing is that they won’t shake that banter for a long-time, Carra and Neville were pissing themselves touring an empty-room recently there saying it was the club-legend room. Immense disrespect to my man Shaun Goater I have to say.

Which is good because it’s all anyone has on them besides Liverpool.

Dan Ahern
Redtruth

The Premier league is no more competitive than Ligue 1.
Both league winners smashed the opposition.

Dissenter

Pedro
I think you should consider retracting some of the stuff you’ve written about why we let Ramsey leave.
It turns out he was trying to have Arsenal match the Juve contract offer .
It was always about money.

MidwestGun

Come on, a saw a City shirt for the first time ever… in a mall in the midwest. They might have 18 fans now.

Guns of SF

Its always about the $$$

Pierre

Ruth
“The Premier league is no more competitive than Ligue 1.”

Liverpool/Tottenham champions league final

Arsenal / Chelsea Europa league final

Tells a different story , especially as the premier league winners are nowhere to be seen.

Pedro

Dissenter, not sure I’ve ever stated that Aaron Ramsey wasn’t negotiating a contract.

salpardisenyc

And I thought Liverpool finished 2 back.
Red remind me point total Lille are in second place?

Bob N16

Valentin’s point about whether to keep Xhaka is spot on. We have to have a clear idea about how we want to play. Xhaka with his skill set is either going to fit in with that style of play or not, if we need physicality and press in midfield- sell him.

MidwestGun

Sal-
Look at Ahren’s avatar …. tell me that headshot doesn’t scream Jaime Lannister.

Pedro first of his name… breaker of Wenger.. protector of Le Grove etc… etc….

salpardisenyc

Middy

He’s so god damn Jamie Lannister handsome it isn’t funny, but we musn’t tell him that.

Dissenter

Pedro
Are you satisfied with Raul’s explanation though?
Is that consistent with what you heard?

Pedro

Midwest, Sal is just saying I’m too close to my sister

Redtruth

Emery’s last season in charge of PSG yielded 171 goals in all competitions.
The man is a beast.

Pedro

Dissenter, that we pulled the deal because Emery didn’t rate him, yes.

They’ve packaged it so it sounds nice… but they didn’t see the value in him.

Which is fair.

gambon

Wengslayer

MidwestGun

Pedro-
Ahhh yes I forgot.. that could be awkward..

salpardisenyc

New twitter handle.

Champagne Charlie

Weagle

Yea, JT has 5, assuming Keane and Kompany are 4. Little Sky info graphic came up when he was doing his goodbyes. Big kudos to him really, first proper legend of the club bless them.

Redtruth

Note i said Premiet league.

Man City 98 points against 3rd place Chelsea on 72 points….lol

Pedro

Redtruth a proper EKB

He finally has something to believe in. A real beautiful story

MidwestGun

Emery’s last season in charge of PSG yielded 171 goals in all competitions.
The man is a beast.
______
hahahah Take note CG this is how you.. troll.. Red putting on a masterclass.

Pierre

Va!entin
“Emery tried to a play a system that does not correspond to the players at his disposal. Square pegs in round…”

it takes me back to August when I questioned the hiring of a manager who has a certain philosophy of playing without the players to implement that philosophy and the club will not give the manager the funds to buy the players to implement his philosophy….

It’s not Emery’s fault , it’s the club that is at fault for being so short sighted and lacking in judgement.

salpardisenyc

So the second placed team, a point back doesn’t count?

Pedro

Pierre, down with that comment.

MidwestGun

If we are serious about competing for the League we get rid of Xhaka.. If we want to maintain our hold on Top 6. Then by all means we should keep him. But you can’t fix slow by coaching or training. So I don’t see much upside in keeping him around.
I get the argument we got bigger fish to fry.. but depends on how fast we want to fix the root cause of our problems which is our midfield.

Redtruth

4th place in Premier league finished 27 points behind champions.
4th place in Ligue 1 finished 26 points behind champions.

CG

The G “”””Xhaka is a competent if limited player. He has flaws but he has also ability. He is far from the clogger some want to paint.Before deciding to jettison him out of the club, the DoF needs to decide what kind of football we want to play. Once that decided, then head coach can decide if he fits the bill. That’s why people keep harping about football philosophy. If we decide that we will play a slow build-up from the back, then Xhaka is perfect. In a 4-1-2-3, then we just need to have two aggressive defensive minded players… Read more »

Pierre

One more point regarding Nzonzi ,though I do like Torreira but if you put him up against Nzonzi in midfield , who will win , taking into account that Nzonzi totally bossed fellaini in the air and in the physical battles in the match at Old Trafford.

I’m not sure Torreira would even get a kick.

Danny M.O

I think that interview is a bunch of nonsense really. In my experience at corporate level, most newly created specialist positions are normally used as the scapegoat for a project going sour. I gurantee you that if we get nowhere in 5 years, Vinai and Raul will still be here. Its a joke that we need a coach and a director of football for what is essentially a 1 man job. Take Pep at city, not only did he set the philosophy at the club but he also coaches the first team whilst cascading the tactics down to the youth… Read more »

CG

midwest Gun

“”””Emery’s last season in charge of PSG yielded 171 goals in all competitions.
The man is a beast.”””

and they still sacked him.!

WengerEagle

Red displaying a scary show of brainpower here.

Pt diff between the title winner and 2nd place in Europe’s top 5 leagues:

PL- 1 point
La Liga- 11 points
Serie A- 11 points
Ligue 1- 16 points
Bundesliga- 2 points

And the PL is like Ligue 1 as a one-horse league… lol

salpardisenyc

Xhaka is going to seem a dream when Emery replaces him with a Krychowiakian thickie.

MidwestGun

CG-
I was quoting Red… yes that was the obvious response… see how he utilizes actual facts though to troll.. top quality.

Dan Ahern

Wengslayer, Özilbreaker, Captain of the KimKguard…

gambon

“Take Pep at city, not only did he set the philosophy at the club but he also coaches the first team whilst cascading the tactics down to the youth level.”

Absolute bollocks,

Never heard of a guy called Txiki Begiristain?

Complain all you like about Raul, Emery etc, but what we’re putting in place is a modern structure.

WengerEagle

Ah yes, Kimmy K. Kim Keepschtum. Broke-Back warrior.

Pound for pound, slipped disc for slipped disc the banteroust signing of the banter era.

Marko

Xhaka is going to seem a dream when Emery replaces him with a Krychowiakian thickie.

Or Thomas Partey

Bob N16

Pierre, football is mostly played on the ground and that’s why Torreira is more than a match for N’zonzi. I wouldn’t back Torreira in an aerial duel though!

salpardisenyc

Marko

Is Ozil still 100% gone this summer?

MidwestGun

Really like that picture of Ramsey with Lucas Torreira at the top of the post. Seems like he was mentoring him.

Marko

I believe so sal. Window’s open about 10 days give it time

WengerEagle

Curious why Simeone would be happy to let Partey leave when they’re likely losing Rodri to City.

Redtruth

Premier league 2017-18

2nd place 19 points behind 1st place winners

Ligue 1 2017-18

2nd place 13 points behind 1st place winners.

Lol i was wrong, overall Ligue 1 is more competitive over a period of time than the Premier league

WengerEagle

Marko

Outside of China or maybe Istanbul Baekseshir, who goes for Ozil on the money he’s earning?

He’s already come out and said that he’s happy here and that he wants to stay. Looks like we’re stuck with him unless we strike gold with an offer from abroad.

Marko

Curious why Simeone would be happy to let Partey leave when they’re likely losing Rodri to City.

They’re not he has a release clause. He’s also played less this season.

As for Ozil we’ve been over this we don’t want him he’s such a hindrance in so many ways and the club will try to get rid of him. Threaten to not play him not register him at all and see what happens. Especially with some of his sponsors like Adidas coming up in 2020 it’d be stupid to simply sit on his arse and not play. He’s still 30

Champagne Charlie

“but depends on how fast we want to fix the root cause of our problems which is our midfield“

Thought it was defence myself?

Or perhaps you think midfielders influence our defence, which should get you some stick as some powerhouse thinkers on here claim Torreira and Guendouzi addressed no such thing last summer…

Danny M.O

@gambon: Absolute bollocks,Never heard of a guy called Txiki Begiristain?

Txiki was there from 2012, if he was the magic sauce then why didnt he and pellegrini have city playing the way they do now?

Like I said you need that special forwad thinker to revolutionise the club. Pep done it at barca then bayern and now city.

If its all about this director of football then why did barca and bayerns performance drop after pep left?

When pep leaves will txiki sutain the way city play?

Dissenter

“Take Pep at city, not only did he set the philosophy at the club but he also coaches the first team whilst cascading the tactics down to the youth level.”

Did Wenger move to City?

City elite academy operates separate from Pep. It was excellent before Pep came on board. The owners built a solid educational system to go with it. Football is built into the curriculum.

MGooner

Our defence worked well when we were playing with 3 at the back. One as sweeper.

When we had the injury to the sweeper (the former bolton chap), our season fell apart.

Words on a Blog

WengerEagle,

Outside of Turkey/China, no one takes Ozil on the salary he’s on…

That’s why he’s sucking up to Erdogan, in the hope that the all-powerful Erdogan puts in a word (and maybe a few Turkish lies) to the chairman of one of the Turkish clubs to help him to move to Istanbul, where he can be The Greatest Living Turk (after Erdogan) of all time

Redtruth

Midfield is definitely the main problem.
Lack.of goals, creativity and leadership have all undermined Emery’s vision.

Champagne Charlie

Mgooner

Thought we were conceding at a rate of 50 goals for the season with Holding involved too?

Think there’s a bit of revisionism as far as Holding goes, we were still porous. He was just not particularly to blame.

Words on a Blog

Turkish lies – Turkish liras

MidwestGun

I think the only way we could have moved Ozil on if is the Club could have successfully frozen him out. It was always going to be messy.. They tried, However it didn’t work.. because basically Ozil is the only midfielder with any semblance of creativity and link up play. Iwobi, Ramsey, Mhki, all failed at cam role. So unless we are willing to pay his salary to play at another team for awhile.. Can’t see it. I would put the percentage at around 10% chance. About the same chance as Iwobi scoring a goal.

Marko

Ozil more powerful than Arsenal? I have my doubts but we’ll see

Champagne Charlie

Said it before but there’s no way Ozil goes to China, what can they offer him? It’d have to be a salary of 500k a week, the guy’s on a godly wage in London ffs, who swaps that for dim sum?

Turkey is the emotional/retirement opportunity for sure. One of them needs to pony up 250k and we’ll do the rest by giving him away for 10 mil.

Pierre

Marko
“As for Ozil we’ve been over this we don’t want him he’s such a hindrance in so many ways and the club will try to get rid of him. ”

Europa league final next week …the question is, will the manager turn to a player that the club doesn’t want and is a hindrance in so many ways..

Redtruth

It’s heartening to see Emery not fall victim to glamour and resort to wearing dentures or implants.

Words on a Blog

Cc,

You’re dead right.

(almost) as much as money, Ozil craves adulation.

He won’t get that in England, notwithstanding Pierre’s valiant efforts.

So,if he goes, he’ll go to Turkey

CG

Midwest G

“””Really like that picture of Ramsey with Lucas Torreira at the top of the post. Seems like he was mentoring him.”””

That was your best effort yet..
See you can do it..!

Pierre

Ruth
“It’s heartening to see Emery not fall victim to glamour and resort to wearing dentures or implants.”

He dyes his hair…

MidwestGun

CG-
Haha thanks but actually I was recycling a Santi Cazorla joke from way back.. Pedro has had that picture for awhile.

But sometimes the best jokes are timeless.. kind of like our penchant for short midfielders we just keep recycling them.

Redtruth

For me Emery’s season starts on the first game of next season.
All this nonsense of judging him in his first season after years of Wenger terrorising us with mental strength and fighting spirit rhetoric only to collapse at the first sign of pressure…lol

azed

WOAB

If the club really wants to get him out, they will. It would just be ruthless and ugly.

Redtruth

At least it’s his own hair and not a wig..

Marc

Pedro I think ultimately we need to see what we do in the summer – do the actions match the talk. I do have one query on the post – “Was it sensible to give someone the keys to the academy like that?” Is there really that much difference between putting Per in charge of the youth system and giving Arteta the main chair? I know you’ll talk about learning curves, being highly rated and working under Pep etc etc but it seems a little hypocritical. If you want to argue that the person running the youth system should have… Read more »

Marc

Re CC’s earlier comment

“Think there’s a bit of revisionism as far as Holding goes, we were still porous. He was just not particularly to blame.”

Holding looks a decent prospect / good player. The problem is who / what is to blame. There are individual players who are rightly targeted as weak links but I’m getting the feeling that there’s a more underlying issue to be sorted as well.

lari03

There’s nothing forward thinking about Pep Guardiola until he wins the Champions League with a Club not called Barcelona.

Spending obscene amounts of money on elite players and still losing to Tottenham is the worst that could ever happen. That’s a phd in bottling on the biggest stage ever.

Pedro

Marc,

It would be hypocritical if the two jobs were the same… but they’re not.

Judged over different time spans, by wildly different metrics.

It’ll take 6 months to find out if Arteta is good, if he’s not, you change him out and start again, no problems.

How do you find out if Mertesacker is any good?

His job is to take kids from 8 to 23. We have to wait a very long time to see the fruits of his vision. If it tanks, that’s a generation wasted.

Pedro

Lari03, absolute nonsense.

He just won the league making the least tackles. He’s a fucking visionary.

Gbat

Guardiola has had over £500m worth of players on top of an already pretty decent squad.

CG

PedRo – you must have the patience of a Saint!! Trying to educate and inform the Delinquents on here about the virtues and capabilities of Mikel Arteta. Captain of Rangers, Everton and Arsenal- Three Great British Football clubs. Headhunted- by Pep and Poch…even before his playing days were officially over.. The meticulous Peps’ first mission as Man City head coach- get Arteta on Board.! And yet the Delinquents still question his merits. His coaching talents. His undoubted potential…. An Arsenal with him as Head Coach An Arsenal with Aaron Ramsey as Captain was the way forward. But Raul – wanted… Read more »

Rocking gooner

In Emery we trust 😉

Nelson

Valentin
“If we decide that we will play a slow build-up from the back, then Xhaka is perfect”

The major Xhaka’s deficiency is defense. Arsenal is a team which gave up a lot of shots on goal. Xhaks is too slow to play DM. He can’t block enough holes. To makes things worse, he is not sharp defensively. Pierre suggests Nzonzi but he is too old. We need to train a young option. How about we ask Willock to play DM. He is fast and energetic. He has the attribute to grow into that role.

Valentin

Per’s role is to manage the academy not to coach for the academy. Also even if Mertesecker were the best coach in the world, Arsenal academy is not going to produce 10 Messi every seasons. Also the metrics by which the academy should be judged are likely to be on based on trend and moving average rather specific season results. With the caveat that absolutely disastrous results may lead to immediate dismissal. Academy manager are not sacked, because they missed their target for one season. It would be ridiculous to sack him, because for one season not enough players were… Read more »

Valentin

@Nelson,

It all depends on the system you play. Pirlo was not a very good defender either. He conceded a lot of free-kicks. However he was protected by two muscular midfielders.

TheLegendaryDB10

CG

One question:

Will you be cheering on the boys Wednesday night for our attempt at an European trophy?

Thomas

Emery sacked yet?

Surferosa

Good interview, As you say Pedro, one of the better Arsenal Media outputs.

But, I want to know more about shoe buckles.

TheLegendaryDB10

Just watched part 2 of Vinai’s and Raul’s interview and now ready to say my bit. As much as I wanted to scream PR bs when watching part 1, I genuinely felt that they both have a plan. That 2nd part with the diagram of their organisational plan really gave an insight on what they want to do with The Arsenal. I like the fact that they look like they know what they want and how they want to go about it. As said this morning: actions speak louder than words. So, as I have already said before, I am… Read more »